tzfujimino
Key Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2007
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Japanese
- Home Country
- Japan
- Current Location
- Japan
Hello, everyone.:-D
Today I have a question as to the usage of 'be surprised at + -ing' and 'be surprised + to-infinitive'.
One of the students at my school wrote:
1. My mother was surprised at hearing the news.
(I'm pretty sure that the student used the -ing form (a gerund) because of the preposition 'at'.)
I believe it is grammatically correct, but I think it would be more natural to say:
2. My mother was surprised to hear the news.
or simply
3. My mother was surprised at the news.
Is the sentence #1 written by the student acceptable/natural?
Thank you.
Today I have a question as to the usage of 'be surprised at + -ing' and 'be surprised + to-infinitive'.
One of the students at my school wrote:
1. My mother was surprised at hearing the news.
(I'm pretty sure that the student used the -ing form (a gerund) because of the preposition 'at'.)
I believe it is grammatically correct, but I think it would be more natural to say:
2. My mother was surprised to hear the news.
or simply
3. My mother was surprised at the news.
Is the sentence #1 written by the student acceptable/natural?
Thank you.